Christmas Projects Finally Posted - Almost Done!

This wasn't technically a Christmas present, but I wrapped it and sent it with the others. I have made graduation quilts for all of my nieces and nephews (we don't have a big family!), and this one is for my niece, Collin, who graduated from high school in Virginia in June of 2010. A little late, I know! I knew she liked pink, white, and black - but I had trouble working black into my design, so this is what I ended up with. The back is pieced with the leftover fabrics, and I even have a pieced binding. I used up all but a small basket of leftover strips in this quilt.

Here you can see the quilting detail. I did not quilt it myself - I sent it out for quilting, to a local long-arm quilter I have used in the past (she does not want her name given out). She does a beautiful job, and I was happily surprised with the results! I just sent her the quilt, and asked her to "play" in all of the borders, using variegated pink thread. When I asked her if she had that color of thread, she started laughing - "oh, you have no idea!" Apparently she collects thread like many of us quilters collect fabric.

I am happy with how this table runner finally turned out. It went through a few arrangements before I settled on this design. The blue and green strips were leftovers from another project, so I started with the pieced blocks. All of the other fabrics were from my stash. The backing is actually a black and white splashy modern print, and looks awesome with the lime green binding, making the runner reversible. This now lives with my brother and sister-in-law in Virginia.

Close-up of quilting detail. I had lots of fun quilting this. I saw the design on a quilt by Victoria at BumbleBeansInc. blog. I practiced by drawing on paper first, then went to the fabric. It is my new favorite all-over quilting design. It is fun and easy, and looks great.

Had to finish with a picture of my gorgeous puppy, Dora. She is growing at an amazing speed - she gained 4 pounds last week! She is our beautiful yellow lab, from Cricket Hollow Farm in Galva, Illinois. She is a sweet doggy, and we all just love her!

Christmas Projects Finally Posted - Continued!

I had lots of fun finishing these four wall quilts for Christmas gifts this year. I had already finished, or almost finished, these four blocks as part of a wall quilt. Well, I knew the quilt would never happen - so they became individual wall quilts, and I'm happy how they turned out. This one now lives with dear Genevieve, who loves animals. She also loves sparkly things, so I quilted it with metallic threads. It was fun to use lots of those fun threads which have been in a box for a while.

One of my challenges for these wall quilts was to not buy any fabrics to finish them! Each quilt required 3 fabrics: narrow inner border, wider outer border, plus the backing/binding fabric. On each quilt, I brought the backing around to the front to bind it. I love this finish - it is quick and easy, and perfectly fine for projects like these, which will not receive lots of wear and tear, or frequent washing. I love the little cardinal in the tree - nice pop of color - and did you notice that each quilt has a cardinal in it? This quilt now lives in Indianapolis with dear friends.

I love these bears, busily getting ready for Christmas! I was lucky to find the black/gray print for the border, plus I like how the bright blue and red borders echo the Christmas lights. This quilt lives with our great neighbors and friends, the Knights.

These little chickadees were the perfect gift for Scott's brother and his wife, in Minnesota. They have other chickadee accessories in their home, and love feeding the birds in the beautiful backyard. They have a nice big sliding glass door next to their breakfast table, so they can keep watch on all of the local wildlife.

Totally different project! These blocks were a UFO begun by Hannah and me, a number of years ago. Hannah was ok with me using the blocks for another purpose, and I think they look lovely in this table runner. Just a simple black border, some simple stipple quilting, and then bind the edge with the backing fabric. This lives in the D.C. suburbs with my brother and his wife and daughter. More projects in the next post!

Christmas Projects Finally Posted

Of course I couldn't post about Christmas gifts until after Christmas - and I just received these photos from my daughter, so here we go. I forgot to take pictures on my camera, not sure why!
I made this Christmas stocking for Emily's boyfriend, Matt. He's a great guy, and we all like him a lot. Since he and Emily spent the holidays at our house with us, I thought he definitely needed his own stocking! I added the Notre Dame logo, his alma mater. The front is scrappy/crazy pieced, the back is solid fabric, then both were overall stipple quilted before assembling the stocking. Fun project - and Matt liked it!

Emily asked me to make her a tree skirt. I love to sew for my daughters, but they haven't let me do so since they were in grade school! I was thrilled that Emily asked for something - but she didn't ask me until sometime in December! I was already up to my eyeballs in sewing projects to be completed by Christmas, and working two jobs, so I told her I would sew one - for next year. She was fine with that - and was definitely surprised when I DID finish it for this year! I found a tutorial on another blog, crazymomquilts, added a few changes of my own, and had the whole thing done really quickly. I just did simple grid quilting, and finished the edge by bringing the backing around to the front - a quick and easy finish, quicker by far than a separate binding. And it is totally fine for something that will get little wear and tear. The tree skirt turned out great, and Emily's dog, Cohen, looks just precious posing on it, doesn't he?

I guess Cohen got tired of posing - but he still looks pretty cute! Emily was unable to properly attach the tree skirt under the tree, as it was late in the season and the tree was too dry and brittle to get close to and under it. Better picture next year!

Merry Christmas to us!

'Twas the day before Christmas, and early we rose! Scott, Chris, and Hannah on the road, and the snow blows! We drove for 3 hours to pickup our gift - a beautiful yellow puppy - and we didn't land in a drift! (end of poem, such as it was!) We left home at 8 a.m. to drive to Cricket Hollow Farms, in Galva, Illinois. Chris Anderson has a simply wonderful dog breeding (and boarding and training) business there, and we were lucky enough to find her, and our newest family member, Dora!
Here I am, holding Dora for the first time. When Chris's daughter brought Dora out to me, I started to cry, she is just so beautiful! (you can see Chris behind me)

Here is my daughter, Hannah, getting kisses from the lovely Dora. Let me tell you, it takes a LOT to get Hannah out of bed early in the morning, but she bounded out of bed in order to come along to pick up Dora! Here you can see the front room of Chris's business.

Hannah got to have Dora ride in the back seat with her, and took LOTS of pictures on the way home! A little yawn from Dora. By the way, the name has nothing to do with the cartoon character - but was chosen in honor of a favorite great aunt of mine, who was spunky and sweet. So far, our Dora has both qualitites! :)

Chris gave us a little stuffed lamb, sweet with the scent of Dora's 9 brothers and sisters. Here she is, cuddled up next to her little lamb - dreaming about what else Santa might bring to her the next day! For all of us Hudsons, though, we already had our gift - a sweet little girl named Dora. God Bless Us, Every One!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Enjoy these images - starting with a view from our front yard, looking across the street, about one month ago. Love that fall color!

Here's another stunning shot - taken from my neighbor's driveway, looking through her garden (I can't take credit for those beautiful marigolds, cosmos, and clematis over her gate), into our backyard. That maple in the background is ours, and it gives us a beautiful view from our family room (just to the right).

There was a great Mary Schmich column in the Chicago Tribune this week, on the theme of Thanksgiving. I tried to include a link, but blogger is fighting me right now. Just go to Chicago Tribune, Mary Schmich, November 21. The column is titled "Even the terrible things seem beautiful to me now."

And who could resist these cuties? These are some of the 3-week old girl pups from our litter - we are schedule to pick up OUR puppy in about one month - just in time for Christmas!

Another problem trying to include a link - type in the following into You Tube to get a real day brightener! I actually applauded after watching this one. Enjoy - and Happy Thanksgiving!

Sound of Music - Central Station Antwerp (Belgium)

The Black Fabric Fiasco

So, I've been working on this project, piecing letters and star blocks, and using solid black fabric as the background for all of them. I had some black fabric in my regular stash, but when I used that up, I went hunting, and found a big piece - about 3 yards - in a cardboard box. I had an UFO (unfinished object, a common term for us quilters!) in the box, including many pieced blocks, and the large piece of solid black. Do you see where this post is going? I cut off a large piece of the black, about 1/2 yard, and started to press it. Black dust and lint were everywhere! On the ironing board, on the floor, and on me. I decided to wash that piece, and the remaining 2+ yards - so into the washing machine they went!
And this is what came out! I was upstairs when Scott removed them from the washer, and I could hear him exclaim when he saw it! He was shocked, to say the least! What could I say? We had a good laugh over it, and now I have to decide how to proceed.

Last night, I hand washed all of my completed blocks and letters, and I think I can salvage all but about 4 of the letters. I could definitely tell which ones had the "bad" black fabric - it left a ring in the sink! Apparently, the acids in cardboard boxes leach into the fabric, and cause it to break down. I had just never seen proof of it until now!

Thank a veteran today